About Murder in the Mansion

August is gonna be HOT! Especially if you join this hot murder mystery prompt event!

MURDER IN THE MANSION

Who’s up for a summer murder mystery collaboration?

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Billionaire Thelonius Radford Davenport has been murdered in his mansion. The details are being kept hush-hush…and the motive is unclear. Was it for money? A crime of passion? Had he learned a dangerous secret?

No-nonsense Inspector Prodwell is on the case. And YOU are—or, rather, your character is—one of the suspects!

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You decide who your character is. They could be a family member, a house staff member, a business partner, a clandestine lover, etc. All you need to do is write the scene where Inspector Prodwell questions you. What you’ll need to mention in that scene (in 1000 words or less) is:

• where the scene takes place,

• your character’s (hopefully relevant) backstory,

• your character’s relationship to the victim (which could be tied to your backstory or not),

• a likely (inventive) murder weapon to which you have access

• a motive (which you’ll deny, let slip, try to downplay, or whatever you choose)

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Rule #1: Write the piece as regular prose and keep Detective Prodwell's active role in your scene very small: simple, short, straightforward questions. All your color should go into your suspect's character and their story. This will keep Prodwell's character as consistent as possible across entries and make your suspect the focus—as it should be.

Rule #2: Please stick to the 1k word count (less is fine!) because I want the finished product to be something people can (hopefully) read in one sitting, so epic-length entries will defeat that goal. A wee overspill won’t disqualify you, but keep it tight and densely packed with intriguing, juicy details all revolving around your suspect.

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You’ll post it by the due date. (August 31st ), tagging me and submitting here on Scriptorum, so I can see/collect them all. Then I'll create a post that will include a vote for people to pick who they think the murderer is (or should be). The winner of the vote will be accepted as the culprit, and I’ll create a final post that includes everyone’s scenes and release the whole thing as a complete story, revealing the murderer and crediting/tagging all authors for their various parts.